Budget Balancing In Orange City Won't Require More Money

City Manager Bruce Behrens Would Like To Shift Some Money And Adjust The Budget's Revenue Side.

June 10, 1997|By Gwyneth K. Shaw of The Sentinel Staff

ORANGE CITY — More than halfway through the budget year, City Manager Bruce Behrens is confident the city's finances are in top shape.

He points to the midyear budget report - which the City Council will review for a second and final time at 7 tonight - as proof that Orange City's books look good.

Behrens wants council permission to move $68,000 between various department budgets. He's also asking to adjust the budget's revenue side by more than $44,000.

However, Behrens stressed that, unlike the past several years, there's no request for more money in the midyear report.

The 1996-97 budget was the first one that Behrens shaped as a full-time city manager, although as interim manager he oversaw the midyear budget-related adjustments last year.

''Last year we had a big budget adjustment and either we put the right budget in place this year or we were lucky - and I'd like to think that we knew what we were doing,'' he said. ''We did exactly what we told them we would do last October.''

One proposed change calls for adding a $34,000 grant to the police department's budget. Another increases the parks and recreation department's budget by adding a $7,000 grant.

The transfers are mostly from insurance allocations into payroll accounts.

City Finance Director John Gregor changed Orange City's insurance carriers at the end of last year, saving the city more than $90,000. That savings was enough to pay for the higher salaries required under the pay plan the council passed in November.

''John saved a lot of money, and we were therefore able to implement the pay plan with the money we saved without going before the council (for approval),'' Behrens said. ''That's really what you see in those numbers. Without that savings, we couldn't have done the pay plan.''

The transfers Gregor made within the department budgets was done to provide the money needed to pay for overtime and other expenses, but Behrens said any dollars that needed to be replaced have been. Gregor had drawn money from several departments' allocations to the employee pension plan and from workers' compensation insurance premiums.

The revised numbers for the midyear budget reflect that the accounts have been balanced, Behrens said.